Ticketing platform StubHub eyes up to US$9 billion valuation in U.S. IPO

The StubHub logo is displayed in Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park.

Madron Partners-backed StubHub is targeting a valuation of up to US$9.2 billion in its U.S. initial public offering, the ticket reseller said on Monday, becoming the latest company to resume listing plans delayed in April due to tariff uncertainty.

The firm is looking to sell about 34 million shares, priced between $22 and $25 each, to raise up to $851 million.

Buoyant equity markets and robust tech earnings have sparked a long-awaited recovery in the IPO market this fall, after uncertainty from U.S. trade policy forced a slew of companies including StubHub to delay listing plans earlier in the year.

Swedish fintech Klarna and Winklevoss twins-backed crypto exchange Gemini are among the companies gearing up to go public in New York later this week.

In an IPO market led by crypto and other tech-heavy companies, StubHub’s debut could be a barometer of investor appetite for consumer-focused firms, which tend to be more sensitive to macroeconomic downturns.

The live events industry has benefited from an explosion in consumer preference for out-of-home experiences and entertainment.

Record-smashing concert ticket sales such as those seen for singer Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” tour this summer have boosted revenues for rival Ticketmaster’s parent, Live Nation Entertainment.

StubHub was co-founded in 2000 by Jeff Fluhr and current CEO Eric Baker, who had initially left the firm - and launched viagogo, a rival ticket reseller - in Europe in 2006.

Baker had exited StubHub ahead of its $310-million sale to e-commerce firm eBay, completed in 2007. More than a decade later, in 2020, viagogo bought StubHub from eBay for $4.05 billion.

StubHub’s ticketing marketplace allows fans to purchase tickets for live events, with more than 40 million tickets sold on its platform in 2024 from over 200 countries.

Madron Partners is its biggest shareholder and the company, also backed by venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, is one of the largest secondary ticketing marketplaces for live events worldwide.

StubHub is aiming to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “STUB.”

J.P.Morgan and Goldman Sachs are the lead underwriters.

(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)